Nonparametric measures of returns to scale: an application to German water supply

The evaluation of market structures and the quantification of returns to scale in network industries usually are of high interest for researchers and policy makers. Regarding the debate on optimal market structures in German potable water supply, we use a cross-sectional sample of 364 German water utilities observed in 2006 to derive a nonparametric measure of scale elasticity for the water industry. The data sample is validated by applying a super-efficiency approach and a statistical testing procedure for outlier detection. Besides using a standard data envelopment analysis approach, a conditional efficiency approach is applied to account for the water utilities’ operating environments. The results indicate non-decreasing returns to scale for the majority of water utilities and constant or non-increasing returns for larger utilities. Optimal firm size is found to be generally larger than the current sample median firm size. Efficiency improvements could be realized by increases in firm sizes and through a consolidation of the industry.     

城市公用事业民营化改革的复杂性研究

我国城市公用事业民营化改革处于初始阶段且有加速推行的迹象,但改革的微观模式尚没有厘清。从理论上看,城市公用事业民营化在技术不变的情况下,无论禀赋是否增加,均非帕累托改善。从实际上看,城市公用事业民营化也会产生诸多的政策困境,且有两难的特点,其中包括民营化与固定回报;价格调整与普遍服务;特许经营中的垄断与竞争;市场准入门槛的高与低等一系列操作性难题。加之,民营化易引发的腐败和失业等负面效应。因此,必须建立符合我国国情的城市公用事业民营化改革模式。     

Divestiture policy and operating efficiency in U.S. electric power distribution

Divestiture of generation assets by vertically integrated electric utilities has been a key element of restructuring in the U.S. The resulting generation sector has received much attention, but the standalone distribution sector that has been simultaneously created has received very little. This paper addresses the effects of divestiture policy on the operating efficiency of the resulting distribution utilities. Using data envelopment analysis to measure operating efficiency, we examine 73 utilities in the period 1994–2003 and find that the major divestitures that were required by state regulators had large adverse effects on efficiency, whereas utilities that divested at their own initiative had at worst neutral efficiency outcomes. These results raise serious questions about one of the centerpieces of electricity restructuring.     

A case for water utilities as cooperatives and the UK experience

This article explores the creation of consumer cooperatives as a means of privatizing water utilities. The first section examines the structure of ownership and sets out Hansmann's theoretical basis for determining which category of persons is most efficiently assigned ownership. The section extends the discussion of market contracting costs by considering the externalities and social costs associated with a water utility. The heart of the paper is the second section which applies the theory of efficiently assigned ownership to the case of water utilities. The third section briefly reviews the literature on the relative efficiency of private and public utilities and also succinctly applies the theory of the firm to the question of vertical integration in the case of water utilities. The fourth section discusses the UK's experience with water utilities. The final section draws together the paper's conclusions.   The application of Hansmann's general theoretical scheme for assigning ownership leads to the conclusion that water utilities should be consumer cooperatives. Consumer-owned utilities would confront lower market contracting and ownership costs, than would investor-owned utilities. Additionally, the social costs and externalities that are particular to water are better left to consumers who are more prone to take them into account in their decisions.     

中国城市公共事业外部制度创新研究

中国城市公共事业无论是在理论上还是在外部制度安排上,都仍游离于市场经济体制之外.如何通过理论创新与制度创新,打破政府及公共部门对城市公共事业的行政性垄断,将城市公共事业真正融入到市场经济体制之中,改善城市公共事业投资及生产经营的外部制度环境,提高城市公共事业经营效率,仍是理论研究和制度实践亟待解决的重要课题.     

The role of environmental factors in water utilities’ technical efficiency. Empirical evidence from Spanish companies

This article computes input-specific scores of technical efficiency for a sample of water utilities located in the southern Spanish region of Andalusia. In addition, differences in efficiency between different operating environments are investigated. Concerning the debate about ownership and efficiency, we find that privately owned companies outperform public utilities in their management of labour. Furthermore, technical efficiency is found to be greater among firms located in highly populated areas and for utilities providing water services to tourist municipalities. Finally, no empirical evidence supporting the greater technical efficiency of consortia of water utilities, a managerial strategy strongly encouraged by regional politicians, is found.     

Consistency in performance rankings: the Peru water sector

Regulators can utilize a number of alternative methodologies for comparing firm efficiency, but these approaches need to be robust to be accepted by stakeholders. This study evaluates the consistency of water-utility performance rankings for Peruvian water utilities. The results indicate that data envelopment analysis (DEA) and stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) yield similar rankings in this case. In addition, the techniques have comparable success for identifying the best and worst performing utilities. However, these rankings based on sophisticated statistical techniques are not highly correlated with those developed by the Peruvian water regulator (SUNASS). This result does not invalidate the performance rankings obtained by the regulator, since those rankings are based on more dimensions of utility performance. However, they illustrate the importance of developing sound techniques for identifying weak utilities. Improvements in sector performance require that benchmarking be given greater attention than in the past.     

Determinants of total efficiency in water utilities in Mexico

By using panel data analysis across 368 water utilities in Mexico over the period 2010–2014, we find that small firms are more efficient than medium and large providers and that increasing production is associated with less efficiency. Billing, income collection and profitability are relevant factors to improve efficiency. Medium and large firms require to measure consumption by service with meters in order to increase efficiency, while small firms do not require it.     

建立水市场的成本估计框架

以往关于水资源市场交易机制的研究因为仅限于一个市场的交易成本,因此常常低估交易成本。我们认为,市场产权制度的设计与实施相关成本是交易成本中非常重要的部分。在运用交易成本对水配置机制效率的全面评价时面临一系列的测度问题,尽管有关最终交易的成本相对易于测度,但最初的信息收集、政策执行和正式市场机制的设计与运行的有关成本的测度存在困难。事实上,当一个政策实施后,再来测度交易成本要容易得多,但为了决策的需要,我们必须事前就了解相应的交易成本。     

Relative National Efficiency and Country Size: Evidence for Developing Countries

The paper investigates the impact of country size on aggregate national efficiency, using a nonparametric programming methodology to measure output distance functions and relative national efficiency for a group of 85 developing countries over the period 1980–89. Tobit regression models are estimated in order to identify the influence of national and policy characteristics on intercountry differences in relative efficiency levels. The results indicate that there is a strong positive developmental–efficiency relationship and evidence of a positive impact of trade policy openness on aggregate efficiency. There is also some evidence of a country size constraint on efficiency when other influences are controlled for.     

Efficiency analysis of German electricity distribution utilities – non-parametric and parametric tests

This study applies non-parametric and parametric tests to assess the efficiency of electricity distribution companies in Germany. Traditional issues in electricity sector benchmarking are addressed, such as the role of scale effects and optimal utility size, as well as new evidence specific to the situation in Germany. Labour, capital, and peak load capacity are used as inputs, and units sold and the number of customers as output. The data cover 307 (out of 553) German electricity distribution utilities. A data envelopment analysis (DEA) is applied with constant returns to scale (CRS) as the main productivity analysis technique, whereas stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) with distance function is the verification method. The results suggest that returns to scale play but a minor role; only very small utilities have a significant cost advantage. Low customer density is found to affect the efficiency score significantly, in particular in the lower third of all observations. Surprisingly, East German utilities feature a higher average efficiency than their West German counterparts. The correlation tests imply a high coherence of the results.     

城市公用事业特许经营 相关问题比较研究

推行特许经营是深化我国城市公用事业市场化改革的一个重要内容。本文在讨论特许经营渊源和实质的基础上,对城市公用事业特许经营与商业特许经营、行政许可、政府购买服务、公私合作（PPP）等相关问题作了比较研究,探讨了它们之间的联系和区别,便于人们准确把握城市公用事业特许经营的内涵和特点,为有效推进城市公用事业特许经营提供理论基础。     

我国东部三大城市群创新效率及影响因素对比研究

基于超效率BCC模型，对2010—2018年我国东部三大城市群内部各城市及城市群整体创新效率进行测度，利用变异系数考察城市群内部创新效率差距，探寻内部差距对城市群整体创新效率的作用关系，并采用面板Tobit模型对创新效率的具体影响因素进行分析。结果表明：我国东部三大城市群创新效率普遍提升；长三角创新核心城市的创新效率相对不足，京津冀创新节点城市数量及效率均不足，三大城市群创新腹地存在创新投入不足问题；三大城市群创新效率差距经历由扩大到缩小的变化过程，城市群创新效率受城市群内部各城市创新效率差距的影响，城市群内各城市创新效率差距应保持适度，差距过大、过小均不利于城市群整体创新效率提升；我国东部三大城市群创新效率影响因素具有地域差异。     

基于DEA模型的中国环保投入相对效率评价研究

基于DEA的C2R模型,引入非Archimedes无穷小量ε及DEA交叉评价方法,文章对中国环保投入的利用效率进行了实证分析。结果表明,目前我国环保投入总量依然不足,投入产出效率有待提高,投资结构不尽合理,环保从业人员数量不足、整体素质有待进一步提高。评价结果对环保产业发展的政策制定具有重要指导意义。     

INTEGRATION AND UTILIZATION OF PUBLIC EDUCATION RESOURCES IN REMOTE AND HOMOGENOUS AREAS: A CASE STUDY OF THE UPPER PENINSULA OF MICHIGAN

This article adopts the nonradial Russell measure in the context of data envelopment analysis to measure the relative efficiency of public education in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, a geographically remote but homogenous region. The empirical analysis focuses on the effect of community characteristics on the schools efficiency by using school district–level data. Several different forms of model specifications in the stage of data envelopment analysis are executed to check the robustness of the findings by adopting extreme-bound analysis and thick modeling approach. Interestingly, despite the homogeneity of the Upper Peninsula, wide differences in the efficiency of education are found. These differences are robust as to model specification, suggesting that efficiency studies might be a useful guide for policy makers. Community factors such as income and educational levels, obtained from the census data by school district, are introduced in the second stage because they will influence the efficiency of the schools and the technology by which schools help students learn. Median family income is the most important explanatory variable, whereas the median value of housing is insignificant. In addition, private school enrollments are unrelated to the efficiency of public education, contrary to what many advocates of private schools have contended. These findings help understand education efficiency, having policy implications for education-oriented states such as Michigan. (JEL I2 , N3 , H52 )     

Hydro-economic river basin modelling: The application of a holistic surface-groundwater model to assess opportunity costs of water use in Spain

Combined hydro-economic models of river basins are fundamental tools for assessing management and infrastructure strategies to improve the economic efficiency of water use in a context of competition over scarce water resources. Integrated hydro-economic models have to be capable to properly reproduce the physical behavior of the system, with a realistic representation of the different surface and groundwater resources, including their interaction, and the spatial and temporal variability of resource availability. On the other hand, such models must incorporate the value of water for different urban, agricultural and industrial uses and users. Economic values for water use are defined according to the marginal residual value of water for production (for agricultural and industrial uses) or the aggregated willingness-to-pay (WTP) for urban supply and other final water uses. In this paper, we present a systematic approach to estimate the marginal economic value of surface and groundwater resources at different locations within a complex water resources system. Based on a holistic conjunctive optimization model applied to the Adra river system in Spain we asses the total and marginal opportunity costs of capacity and operation constraints, including the opportunity cost of imposing environmental constraints on water use as foreseen in future Spanish water policy following the implementation of the European Water Framework Directive. The resulting opportunity costs provide important information to water managers about economic inefficiencies of current water allocation policy or infrastructure design, and about the resource opportunity costs to be considered in the design of efficient pricing policies in regions with water scarcity issues.     

Efficiency, equity, and sustainability in a water quantity-quality optimization model in the Rio Grande basin

Integrated hydrologic and economic optimization models at the basin scale provide a framework for policy design, implementation, and evaluation in water-stressed basins. Despite the considerable potential that basin scale analysis offers, few basin-wide studies have examined tradeoffs among efficiency, equity, and sustainability when analyzing the design of water resource programs. This paper develops a basin scale framework to identify hydrologic and economic impacts of alternative water pricing programs that comply with environmental regulations for protecting water quality. Key issues are examined that confront integrated hydroeconomic basin models: linking water and economics, spatial and temporal scale integration, and quantity-quality relationships. Economic efficiency is defined and measured for each of two urban water pricing arrangements that comply with urban water quality protection regulations. Alternative measures of equity are analyzed in both spatial and temporal dimensions. Sustainability is evaluated physically for protecting the water supply and financially for long-term revenue viability. The approach is illustrated from results of a dynamic nonlinear programming optimization model of water use in North America's Rio Grande basin. The model optimizes the net present value of the basin's total economic benefits subject to constraints on equity, sustainability, hydrology, and institutions. It is applied to assess impacts of a two-tiered pricing program that complies with recently implemented drinking water quality standards for the basin's two largest U.S. cities: Albuquerque, New Mexico, and El Paso, Texas. Results suggest that two-tiered pricing of urban water supply has considerable potential to perform well in meeting the aims of efficiency, equity, and sustainability. Findings provide a general framework for designing water pricing programs that comply with environmental regulations.     

Price mimicking under cost-of-service regulation: the Swedish water sector

This study provides an empirical test of price mimicking among publicly owned water utilities. Using a fixed effects spatial Durbin model with data from Swedish municipalities during 2002–2012, I estimate the elasticity of the own relative to neighbors’ average price to 0.14. This behavior can be explained in terms of an informal yardstick competition: when consumers use neighboring municipalities’ prices as benchmarks for costs or as behaviorally based reference prices, policy makers will face the risk of consumer complaints and reduced voter support if deviating too much from neighboring municipalities’ prices. Further, I find some evidence that price mimicking is more pronounced in municipalities where voter support for the ruling coalition is weak.     

Risk–risk versus standard gamble procedures for measuring health state utilities

Contingent valuation (CV) has been widely used to measure the potential benefits derived from different policy decisions. However, doubt now exists about the validity of the CV method and alternative approaches to benefit valuation have been proposed. The paper reports on the results of a study which was designed to test the viability of two of the most prominent of the alternatives: the risk–risk (RR) and standard gamble (SG) approaches. If individual preferences are consistent with the axioms of von Neumann–Morgenstern expected utility theory (EUT) then the two methods should generate the same interval scales for any given set of health states. However, the results show that SG utilities are substantially higher than RR ones, thus casting doubt on these axioms. The paper discusses alternatives to EUT which might better expalin the discrepancies found. It also considers whether the results might be explained in terms of status-quo bias and/or by the relative difficulty of RR questions. The results presented may have important implications for other areas of applied research in which there exists uncertainty about outcomes.